As the 100-loss seasons pile up for the Royals, it's always amazed me how passionate the team's fans remain.

Sure, you could say that about Cubs fans, and their century-plus championship drought. But the Cubs have had quite a few winning seasons sprinkled throughout that drought, and Wrigley Field is known more for its frat party atmosphere than the kind of fans who hang on every pitch.

Yankees and Cardinals fans are known for their passion. But they're always in the hunt.

Royals fans got nothin.' Not since the early 1990s. And yet the team still draws consistently good crowds for its market size, sometimes larger than more successful teams.

This month makes 25 years since the Royals won their only World Series championship, and the team has young fans anyway, a generation that knows winning baseball only through old stories and grainy video.

Of watching Brett Saberhagen's no-hitter on TV and then getting our family locked out of our apartment the next morning, just before we were supposed to be leaving for school, because I wanted my mother to buy me a Kansas City Star to feed my fascination with baseball and the newspapers that covered the game's historic moments.

Of attending the game on a hot July day in '95 when the Royals inducted Frank White into the team's hall of fame. I went with my dad and my childhood best friend Nate. ... I have memories of the Royals playing Boston on that day, the "Cheers" theme blaring on the stadium PA during the Red Sox batting practice, and calling a Mo Vaughn home run -- but baseballreference.com is telling me I must be thinking of a different day.

Of attending Cal Ripken's world-recording breaking consecutive game. With my dad and three of my best high school buddies on a beautiful June night. I wore my Ripken jersey and we played catch in the parking lot before the gates opened. The "I Was There" certificate we received remains one of my most prized collector's items.

They all love the Royals for different reasons. Some of it is geography and family and some of the same memories their fathers may have had, like sitting in the old G.A. and getting sprayed by the groundskeepers on a hot day or trying to get a beer with a fake I.D.

I remember all those things, too. Oh, how I loved sitting in the old G.A. with my high school buddies. $5 tickets. Getting sprayed. And chasing home run balls during batting practice.

The Royals sank at the hands of poor leadership and a lack of ownership.

In recent years, it seems like the names on the roster have changed so much that it's a lost cause to try keeping up. You just wait to see who the manager -- whoever that might be, there's been a lot of them in recent years, too -- puts on the field that day.

“Even though I hate almost every player on the team and I hate watching us lose, I continue to watch.”